(With Video) Madhes movement will continue until demands are met: UDMF leaders at JNU, India

New Delhi, Dec 8:
Amid an interaction program organized by Tarai Madhes Study Group at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, top leaders of United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) reiterated that they will continue and intensify Madhes movement until their demands are met.

The Interaction program chaired by Prof. S. D. Muni on ‘Madhesis’ aspirations in the new constitution of Nepal’ was attended by the top leaders of the UDMF.

Speaking at the talk program, Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato said that if their demands are not met, it is likely to bear three consequences. First, loss of faith in the non-violent movement will radicalize the youth of Terai and encourage them to pick up arms. Second, the separatists’ agenda will gain traction, leading to demands for a separate country, not an autonomous province. Third, these circumstances could lead to communal violence between the Pahadis and the Madhesis.

Mahanta Thakur, President of Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP) stated that their agitation would continue till their demands are addressed. Answering to the question of Prof. S D Muni, Professor Emeritus, JNU, he said that the bottom line of their demands is demarcation of boundary of federal province.

“We do not have any new demands, we are asking for what were promised to us. We want two provinces in Terai from Mechi to Mahakali,” he stated.

Highlighting the suffering of the people of Madhes, Mahendra Rai Yadav, President of Terai Madhes Sadhawana Party added, “We are fighting against internal-colonisation and our war is with Nepali state for autonomous Madhes province”.

Upendra Yadav, President of Federal Socialists Forum Nepal (FSFN) stated that UMDF is committed to secularism. He emphasized that secularism and federalism was guaranteed due to their struggle during the first and second Madhes movement.

Likewise, TMDP leader Chanda Chaudhary, who is also president of Nepal India Women Friendship Society strongly highlighted the purpose of UDMF Leaders’ visit to New Delhi, and presented the discriminatory behavior of the state during the ongoing protest.

Although the program was organized late in the evening, more than hundred people from different parts of Delhi participated in the event.

The four leaders of UMDF arrived in New Delhi on Sunday at the invitation of Ministry of External Affairs and met with the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval among other leaders of various political parties.

Watch the interaction program with top leaders of UDMF organized by Tarai Madhes Study Group at JNU, India